The present invention relates in general to circuit board assembly, and in particular to a method and system for positioning a circuit module on a circuit board. More particularly, the present invention relates verifying a correct orientation of an circuit module during placement of the module into a socket within the circuit board.
The process of manufacturing circuit boards, such as motherboards and the like, often includes the step of installing electronic circuitry housed within a computer chip or module (as utilized herein, xe2x80x9cmodulexe2x80x9d refers to either a chip or any other electronic device installable on a circuit board as illustrated hereinbelow). Such integrated circuit modules will include a box-like protective housing within which the circuitry is packaged. The housing will include an upper surface and multiple side surfaces. The lower surface opposing the upper surface includes multiple pins which serve as circuit contacts by which the internal circuitry within the module makes external electrical contact with elements on the circuit board.
The external electrical contact on a circuit board is provided to an installed module by what will be generically referred to as a xe2x80x9cmounting site.xe2x80x9d There are various types of mounting sites including a surface mount in which the module resides above the upper surface of the circuit board. Another possible type of mounting surface is a socket mount in which the module is partially or fully embedded below the surface of the circuit board. Such mounting sites will include multiple electrical contact elements (referred to hereinafter as receptor contacts) for receptively engaging the module.
For surface type mounting sites, electrical contact between a module and the circuit board is typically accomplished utilizing either edge-mounted pins or ball grid array technology. For a socket type mounting site, edge conductors or pins are utilized to provide electrical contact to a module.
Correct placement of modules onto their respective mounting sites is important both in terms of overall system functionality and in terms of circuit board assembly efficiency. With the trend toward ball grid array technology the importance of correct module installation is even more pronounced. It can therefore be appreciated that a need exists for verifying the correct orientation of a symmetric circuit module during installation of the circuit module into a circuit board.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved circuit board assembly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for verifying the position of a circuit module.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for verifying a correct orientation of an electronic circuit module during placement of the module into a socket within the circuit board.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. A method and system are disclosed for verifying a correct orientation of a module during installation of the module into a circuit board mounting site. The module housing is symmetric in at least one respect such that the module may be positioned in at least one alternate orientation with respect to the mounting site in addition to the correct orientation. Within the module, a module test contact is electrically connected to a common plane mode contact. A mounting site test contact that engages the module test pin when the module is correctly aligned with respect to the mounting site is preselected to be tested upon placement of the module onto the mounting site. A test signal is applied to a conductive common plane within the mounting site to which a common plane mounting site contact is connected. Prior to installation of the module into the mounting site, the mounting site test contact is electrically isolated from the conductive common plane to which a test signal is applied. The module is tentatively connected to the mounting site. Upon connection of the module, only the mounting site test contact is tested to ensure that the module has been correctly positioned within respect to the mounting site.
The above as well as additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.